NLRB’s Region 1 Wins Temporary Injunction Requiring NRT Bus, Inc. to Bargain with Union

Boston, Massachusetts—On August 17, 2021, District Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the United States District Court of the District of Massachusetts issued an injunction requiring NRT Bus, Inc. (NRT Bus) to recognize and bargain with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 170 (the Union) as the representative of a unit of school bus drivers employed to provide transportation services for the Westborough, Massachusetts public school system.

The injunction was issued based on a petition for temporary injunctive relief filed by Laura A. Sacks, Acting Regional Director of Region 1 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), on behalf of the NLRB, pursuant to Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The petition alleged that NRT Bus, as a successor employer to a predecessor bus company, engaged in an unfair labor practice in violation of Sections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the Act by failing and refusing to recognize and bargain with the Union for purposes of representing the Westborough bus drivers.

Section 10(j) of the NLRA authorizes the NLRB to seek temporary injunctions against employers and unions in federal district courts to stop unfair labor practices while the case is being litigated before administrative law judges and the Board. In other words, if the amount of time it takes to litigate the case would render the remedy less effective, a Section 10(j) injunction can be sought to allow interim remedial relief. These temporary injunctions are needed to protect employee rights under the Act and the process of collective bargaining, and to ensure that Board decisions and remedies ordered will not be rendered meaningless because of the passage of time. 

Judge Sorokin found that the Acting Regional Director showed reasonable cause to believe that NRT Bus violated the Act and a strong likelihood of success that the Acting Regional Director would succeed on the merits of the administrative complaint. Judge Sorokin made these conclusions based on Administrative Law Judge Robert Ringler’s decision that was issued on August 12, 2021 finding a violation of the Act and recommending to the NLRB that NRT Bus be ordered to recognize and bargain with the Union, upon request. Judge Sorokin found that the remaining factors support a determination that the Acting Regional Director’s request for an interim bargaining order is “just and proper.”

In addition to ordering NRT Bus to recognize and bargain with the Union, Judge Sorokin ordered NRT Bus to cease and desist from engaging in the type of unfair labor practice at issue and post the Court’s order at its facility. Pursuant to the order, the granted relief will remain in effect during the pendency of the administrative proceedings before the NLRB.

“Workers have a right to choose their bargaining representative,” said Laura A Sacks.  Attorney Colleen Fleming, who argued the case before the District Court, and Sacks remarked, “We are happy that Judge Sorokin granted the temporary injunction and issued the bargaining order so that these bus drivers will have the benefits of Union representation as they begin another school year.” 

Yesterday, General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo released a memorandum for all Regional Directors, Officers-in-Charge, and Resident Officers, emphasizing the importance of Section 10(j) injunction proceedings, affirming the Agency’s priority in continuing efforts to obtain immediate relief in cases that present a significant risk of remedial failure.

Established in 1935, the National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency that protects employees, employers, and unions from unfair labor practices and protects the right of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve wages, benefits and working conditions. The NLRB conducts hundreds of workplace elections and investigates thousands of unfair labor practice charges each year. Region 1 serves areas in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont from its Regional Office in Boston and Subregional Office in Hartford.